When it comes to building or expanding a senior living community, project success depends upon lease rates and unit sales. The challenge is sales relies on getting potential residents to visualize the project, and project construction can’t progress without a certain percentage of sales. A project needs to prove to be financially viable to move forward.

How can you get residents to buy-in on something that isn’t built yet? This is where an inspired design team and a variety of design tools come into play. Renderings, virtual tours, sample boards, and sales centers are tools that help communities share concepts and allow residents to really visualize their future homes. Interior design teams are valuable partners throughout the sales and marketing process, partners who can provide visualization tools, product education, and support resident satisfaction.

Renderings & Virtual Tours

Technology has allowed design professionals to truly bring spatial concepts to life for communities and potential residents. In the early years of the profession, hand renderings and scale models played a role in the sales process. Technology has enhanced the rendering process by improving the speed of production, the accuracy of finishes, and the quantity of images to show multiple angles and different spaces. These computer-generated drawings bring designer’s concepts to life and help depict the lifestyle the community is selling to potential residents. From exterior views with lush landscaping and walking paths to interior environments—grand lobbies, multiple dining venues, wellness centers and unit layouts— renderings communicate a community story.

While scale models provided three dimensional explorations of the concepts, virtual tours allow potential residents to gain a better sense of the lifestyle and overall experience. Virtual fly throughs simulate the approach to the community, the arrival at the porte cochere, and the welcoming appeal of the lobby as well as how it feels to navigate amenity spaces in route to resident units.

Enjoy an interior animation and virtual reality experience of MDP’s Broadview Senior Living project.

Interior Animation Example

Virtual Reality Example

Sample Boards & Sales Centers

As residents invest in future buy-in communities, they have the opportunity to customize their units. This is where sample boards and sales centers come into play. Design teams work tirelessly with community leadership to develop a standards package of finish options and acceptable upgrades that suit the look and feel of the overall project as well as the budget, while giving future residents a sense of choice and individual expression. The apartment is their new home, and they want to have a voice in the decision making process of how it looks and feels.

Sample boards provide a collage of the material and finish selections to provide an overall sense of style as well as convey color palettes, textures, patterns, and the level of luxury. These boards along with a variety of renderings can be used as sales tools within a sales center. The benefit of a well-considered sales center is that it can be used as a mock-up of some of the apartment features, becoming a life-size sales tool. For example, a typical kitchen layout can be incorporated as a gathering space in the sales center. Countertop materials, edge details, cabinetry styles, flooring, and hardware options can be installed, so residents can touch and feel different finishes and materials and get a sense of the real space.

A Successful Design & Sales Partnership

When it comes to positioning a proposed community for success, an inspired design team can be a true sales partner. Designers help communities and construction partners make smart finish selections, educate the sales and marketing team, and support resident satisfaction.

“Kim Hyduke and the MDP Team were essential in assembling a quality package of visualizations and materials that helped future residents at The Vista really understand and get excited about the community they were joining, says Kristopher S. Powell, AIA, LEED AP, Development Manager at Eventus Strategic Partners. “Aside from helping with sales, it was remarkable how much the final product matched the impressive visualizations, resulting in satisfied expectations from all parties.”

While community leadership may have a perception of what will be successful in the market, designers can help guide smart finish selection decision making. Interior designers understand trends while also analyzing longevity, ease of maintenance, and cost of replacement. A savvy design team will develop a standards package and upgrade options that balance style with functionality. They can advise on the finish options and placements that will appeal to the expectations of today’s resident, while allowing a unit to transition to meet the needs of a future resident. Cabinet styles, countertop materials, and bathroom tile are selections that should have longevity while decorative backsplashes, paint colors, hardware, and flooring can be more easily replaced.

Educating the sales and marketing team on the features and benefits of the standard products and available upgrades is a key part of the process. The better informed they are, the easier it will be for them to guide residents through the selection process. This supports resident satisfaction. Since they are investing in something they can’t physically walk through, all of these interactions are key to keeping them engaged and excited about their future home. In some cases, having the interior designer work directly with future residents adds to the experience and level of satisfaction.

“I had the opportunity to help new residents of The Vista make their unit selections,” says MDP Partner Kimberly Hyduke. “It was a pleasure to sit with the residents and experience this part of the process firsthand. It allowed us to see how we are in tune with the market as well as learn some things from the resident perspective. This was a valuable and informative experience that allowed us to help our client by helping residents truly visualize their apartments.”

While success is determined by the numbers—the financial viability of a project—that success is achieved through visualization. Designers are partners in the process who offer a variety of tools that allow people to visualize concepts and help garner excitement for a project.